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Inspired by Yasmin Ahmad’s final film ‘Talentime’ and Abdullah Hussain’s controversial novel ‘Interlok’, ‘Parah’ is a heart-warming and thought-provoking tale of self discovery in multicultural Malaysia. The Instant Cafe Theatre Company production revolves around Melur (Farah Rani), Hafiz (Iedil Putra), Mahesh (Branavan Aruljothi) and Kahoe (Gregory Sze), whose tight-knit group faces uncertainty and suspicions after Melur finds a page ripped out of her schoolteacher mother’s literature novel ‘Interlok’.

The show debuted in Singapore Drama Centre’s Blackbox in June last year while a showcase performance at The Annexe Gallery a month later also earned positive reviews. Previously slated for a late-November run at KLPac last year, ‘Parah’, which is performed in Bahasa Malaysia with English surtitles, was postponed due to an enforced actor reshuffle and the lack of a suitable venue at the time. For director Jo Kukathas and her team, they are just happy and relieved to be finally able to perform the show. ‘The play means a lot to us,’ said Jo, who believes the script feels tighter and fresher following some minor albeit significant changes by scriptwriter and award-winning playwright Alfian Sa’at.

‘Interlok’ was eventually withdrawn from the school syllabus by the government in December last year, but Jo hopes ‘Parah’ encourages Malaysians to look beyond the controversy. ‘It is how we deal with such issues and controversies that lies at the heart of the play, which looks behind such controversies, examines the heart of the matter and discovers that not everything is about politics.’ Nor should it be. Wong Boon Ken